The yacht club of which I am a mamber welcomes transients, be it for a night or longer (subject to availability of berths). You pay a "per night" fee. Obviously, it is preferable if you contact teh club in advance to make arrangements, but not, as far as I know, compulsory.

Our yacht club allows two nights free then $15 a night after that to reciprocal yacht clubs.Long distance cruisers from other clubs often get the same deal if slips are available.It is on a first come first served basis.

Some yacht clubs in the USA rely upon a published reciprocity directory printed by a commercial firm. If your small or "virtual" club doesn't have anything to offer and doesn't pay several hundred dollars per year to be in the directory, it may be hard to obtain guest privileges in a directory-using club.

Yacht clubs in high-demand or expensive areas are likely to picky. And sometimes even very hospitable clubs get overwhelmed when there's a big regatta, cruise-in, or other special event that they're hosting or is being held nearby.

On the other hand (the one that may have five fingers), clubs tend to be a bit more lenient with cruisers who come from far away who aren't members of an officially reciprocal club. For some smaller clubs especially, a long-distance visitor is a novelty.

Having said that, though, there seems to be a yacht or sailing club for most people and there are real clubs with real facilities that are not really expensive; some clubs with clubhouses and full programs and slips charge only a few hundred dollars a year in dues along with minimal joining (initiation) fees. They may not be free, but they give good value.

As always, knowing the rules of the game is important. Besides the usual requirements (card, burgee), contacting the club ahead of time and following the procedures that many clubs publish on their sites.

In the UK there re very few semi-private/club owned docks. Either its commercial or it's your anchor. Commercial covers from very upmarket to some very much more run-down places.

In meditteranean countries it varies. Spanish yacht clubs, for exmaple, are basically upmarket social institutions with a few water-borne posing pouches attached. If they have space they may let slips (eg in Seville) but you need to be tidy and quiet! Or they're just a posh restaurant in a harbour. In France, however, there are yacht clubs that own moorings, as I udnerstand is the system in the US. In Marseiles, for example, all moorings are club owned. But they operate in most essentials like a commercial marina (payment, space etc), though attendance in the office and any help with docking tends to be erratic.

The part about who owns the slips can be complicated in the USA, too. The number of slips and moorings controlled by yacht clubs is probably much smaller than that controlled by commercial marinas even in the USA.

Some clubs own their marinas as well as the land where their club houses sit.
Some have leases on the land and/or harbor space from a government entity, such as a port commission.
Some clubs are big enough that they have "out stations" with sometimes very limited facilities.
Some own their clubhouses (on owned or leased land), and have limited temporary space on courtesy docks, but do not control any long-term slips or moorings.
Some clubs have no slips but make business arrangements with adjacent marinas so they they can offer "reciprocal hospitality".
Some have club houses but no slip control or arrangements.
Some have employees, some have volunteers, and some are all-self-service.
Some of these without slips or moorings have access to dry storage on their property.
And some are just plain old "paper" or "internet" clubs.

Some clubs rely on the commercial reciprocity directory and others don't bother to participate.
Some clubs rely on specific club-to-club reciprocity agreements or upon agreements brokered by a regional association.
Some have methods to charge the visitor's host club and some take credit cards or cash.

For anyone daring to cruise Scandinavian waters I can give you some facts re. Sweden. (and yes, the Baltic Sea and the west coast of Sweden are beautiful cruising grounds, but the season is fairly short)

Except the 3 largest cities (towns comparing internationally) with very few exceptions, commercial marinas are difficult to find. The boating/yachting community is traditionally built upon clubs, as a joint effort from it's members to provide moorings/slips, launching facilities etc. This is probably due to the fact that we have a looooong coast and the population is quite small compared to the UK, Germany or France for example. 'guest moorings' is a part of the whole concept. Usually rather low fees, again internationally comparison... and not always a lot of conveniences but a very good resource for cruising. And then there are thoousands and thousands of free anchorages in the archipelagos...